But with so many networks and so little time, where should you focus your efforts? How do you grow a targeted following? How do you generate leads for your sales team? What should you post and when should you do it?

That’s what we’re going to cover today.

Social media can be used for generating massive amounts of revenue for your business or it can be a massive waste of time.

When I first started Flight Media, I didn’t know what route to take, so I took them all. Doing so left me burnt out, brought minimal results and frustrated the crap out of me. I heard I should “be everywhere,” but everywhere wasn’t cutting it.

The “4 Pillars,” as I like to call them, can be applied to any social network.

How they’re managed will look a bit different, but the underlying principles still apply.

Follow them for a month and your current social media results will double. Follow them for a year and you’ll grow your business more than you can imagine.

I can boldly say that because I’ve done it, I’ve helped colleagues do it, Flight Media’s clients do it, and I’ve seen people just like you do it, too.

The determining variable is you. The effort you put forth to applying these pillars to your current social media game plan.

(This graphic will give you a quick overview of the 4 pillars.)

Ready to change your business? I thought so. Let’s dive head first.

Pick One Road

One of the biggest misconceptions about social media is that you should “be everywhere.”

I’m calling shenanigans.

When you’re everywhere, you:

Spread yourself thin

Get burnt out

Don’t see massive results

End up thinking social media doesn’t work

Think about it.

If you’re like me, then you probably have many ambitions in life. And trying to master them all at once is like trying to shoot a bullseye with a blindfold on — it doesn’t work. (Although we often think it will!)

Instead, you need to focus.

Focus on a single social media platform that is the most viable for your industry.

Ask yourself, “Where are my customers hanging out?”

If you’re a fitness brand, Instagram is a viable option.If you’re an individual brand, Twitter is a viable option.If you’re a salesperson, Linkedin is a viable option.If you’re a clothing boutique, Pinterest or Instagram are viable options.

You get the point.

Find out the platform that best suits your business and get ready to absolutely dominate it — no mediocrity allowed.

Once you have it, it’s time to begin following these four, very powerful pillars.

Side-Note: These pillars are not going to focus on a single social network. They’re merely principles that will apply to each network, although the terminology will differ.

(For example: a post on Twitter is called a ‘Tweet’ and a post on Linkedin is called a ‘Status Update.’ For common reference, I call them ‘posts.’)

Pillar #1: Growth

Est. time to complete: 3 Hours/Month

Growth is intentional and targeted.

In order to make social media even worth your time, you need to begin with the goal of accumulating a targeted following. If you don’t, then you’ll be sending post after post to the same people.

Would you rather send a tweet to 10 people or 10,000 people? The latter, of course.

When I teach social media, I tell people to think of social media as a party.

A party of 1 billion people. You don’t have time to meet everyone, so you want to be as targeted and intentional as you can with the people you do want to meet.

So, how do you grow a targeted following with intention?

By shaking some digital hands. By being the first person to initiate the conversation with someone you believe might be interested in what your brand has to offer.

This usually happens in the form of:

Following them

@mentioning them

Sharing their post

Direct Messaging them

Responding to one of their posts

As with anything in life, though, quality matters. So it’s important to talk to the right people — not just anybody.

The best way to engage with the right people is by asking yourself the following questions:

Recommended: To get an in-depth view of examples, click here to read our 20,000-post study on the first 4 types of content.

By alternating these five types of content, you’ll provide value to your audience, inspire sharing, generate leads/customers, and show your audience the raw, authentic version of you.

WHEN to Post on Social Media

This is a tricky one. Every network varies and no two audiences are alike.

So… How do we find the best time to post?

Through any of these three methods:

Assumption. Post when you think your audience is mostly online and hope for the best.

Guess & Check. Pick a few times to post during the day and keep them for a month. At the end of the month, review your post analytics and write down the engagement percentages. Rinse and repeat.

Use Tools. Utilize analytic tools like Tweriod (for Twitter), Facebook Insights, or Twitter Analytics to see the peak hours your audience is online. These are precise and take the least amount of time.

We’ve learned that it takes a bit of all 3 to effectively find the peak times for your audience.

Start with tools to find a base, then select a few additional times for assumptions and guess & check till you find the prime times.

For Flight Media, we’ve learned that early morning (6am-7am) and early afternoon (12pm-3pm) spark the most engagement with our audience.

HOW OFTEN to Post on Social Media

Like restaurants, social networks have etiquette.

For some, it’s acceptable to post in high frequencies.For others, anything above two posts per day is overkill.

Luckily, Buffer, a social media management app has the numbers for us.

Unfortunately, this beautiful graphic didn’t include Linkedin or Instagram.

In this article, however, they go on to say that you should be posting 1X per day for Linkedin and 1.5X per day for Instagram.

Side-Note: Our studies have also shown similar numbers, although we recommend 4-12 tweets/day on Twitter.

Pillar #3: Engagement

Est. time to complete: 3 Hours/Month

When I think of the first 3 Pillars of Social Media, I think of marriage. (Hang with me for a second!)

Pillar #1 (Growth) is where you mature as an individual.Pillar #2 (Posting) is where you outwardly show affection and romanticize.Pillar #3 (Engagement) is where you seal the deal by getting engaged, and then married.

Just like in marriage, social media is a two-way street of communication.

By posting the right thing at the right time in the right frequency, your audience will begin engaging with your posts.

That’s when it’s vital to complete the connection by engaging back.

When you do, not only does it build a stronger relationship with your audience, but it encourages them to continue sharing your content.

There are 4 primary ways to engage, that we’ve found the most effective:

Thanking people who share your posts

Sharing others’ posts

Responding to comments

Replying to direct messages

Stick to these forms of engagement on a consistent basis (at least 3 days/week) and you’ll build a following that shares your content — compounding your lead generation and brand awareness efforts dramatically.

Pro-Tip: Use a software like Hootsuite, Social Draft, or Sprout Social to pull all engagements from your different social networks into a single location for response.

Pillar #4: Reporting

Est. time to complete: 30 Minutes/Month

When it comes to social media, if you don’t adapt, you die. (Tweet This)

Social media is an ever-changing industry that will either grow your business or leave you in the dust. So how do you avoid being left in the dust?

You analyze and adapt.

Each month, review the analytics of all your social media campaigns. Either with a social media management software (i.e. Social Draft) or through each platform’s native analytics.